[hr][center][h1]I M A L E S S A  S H A R I S[/h1][/center][hr]
Imalessa inclined her head to the minotaur. "He did," she said. "My mother and half-sisters would never fare too well out in the forest, so he taught me. 'If anything should ever happen to me, I need you to take care of the family,' he always said." She shrugged. "And then something did happen."

The hurt she'd been pushing down for years welled up again. It always did when she thought of her father. Her eyes turned hard, and she moved away from the rest of the group.

Nathaniel spoke again of the town of Mudshit. Or, more precisely, [i]why[/i] they were going there. It made sense, Imalessa supposed to stop somewhere and . . . collect themselves.

Imalessa stepped forward. "I don't mean to sound unprepared, but I left my bow behind in my cottage." She winced. Cottage made it sound much better than it was. Hovel was closer to the truth. "Either I need a new one - preferably one I can shoot and shoot well - or I need to retrieve my own." Because she would not spend a second more than she had to without a bow on her back.